1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and image processing system and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and method and image processing system for reading an image by a detachable reader unit and printing out the image onto a printing medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image data transmission apparatuses such as a facsimile apparatus having a detachable hand scanner mounted in a main body have conventionally been known. In such apparatus, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-110030, a plurality of images are read by the hand scanner in advance. After the hand scanner is mounted in the main body, the read image data are sequentially transferred to the main body and printed out onto a printing medium. At this time, a plurality of image data read by the hand scanner are generally transferred to the main body in the scanning order. For example, images A, B, and C are sequentially read by the hand scanner, and transferred to the main body in this order. The printer on the main body also sequentially prints out the images A, B, and C onto a printing medium in accordance with the transfer order.
In the conventional facsimile apparatus, when both scanning and printing images are monochrome binary images, a plurality of images scanned by the hand scanner can be printed out in the scanning order without any problem.
However, with recent development of image processing apparatuses, color facsimile apparatuses capable of transmitting color images are becoming popular. In general, such color facsimile apparatus can transfer not only color images but also monochrome images.
When a detachable hand scanner is applied to this color facsimile apparatus, the hand scanner can scan and store both color and monochrome images, and the main body printer can print out both color and monochrome images. In an inkjet printer for printing an image by discharging ink from a printer capable of color printing, either one of a color cartridge filled with color inks and a monochrome cartridge filled with a black ink is often appropriately mounted in accordance with an output image.
In this color facsimile apparatus, for example, a user scans a monochrome image after scanning a plurality of color images with the hand scanner, and mounts the hand scanner on the main body to start printing. At this time, if the monochrome cartridge is mounted in the main body printer, the user must exchange the monochrome cartridge of the printer with the color cartridge to start printing because the color images were first scanned by the hand scanner. After the plurality of color images are printed out, the user must mount the monochrome cartridge again to finally print out the read monochrome image. In some cases, color and monochrome images are alternately stored depending on the scanning order by the hand scanner. In this case, cartridge exchange in printing is very cumbersome.
If the user has only the monochrome cartridge, not only a color image scanned first, but also a monochrome image scanned next cannot be output.
The present invention has been made to overcome the conventional drawbacks, and has as its object to provide an image processing apparatus and method and image processing system capable of efficiently printing out an image regardless of the type of printing agent cartridge mounted in a main body printer when a detachable image reader can scan both color and monochrome images.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method and image processing system for minimizing the frequency of exchanging the printing agent cartridge.
As a means for achieving the above objects, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
That is, an image processing apparatus having image reading means for reading an image by a detachable reading unit, and image printing means for printing out the image read by the image reading means onto a printing medium, comprises printing agent detecting means for detecting information relating to printing agent used in the image printing means, and control means for controlling transfer of the image read by the image reading means to the image printing means in accordance with the information relating to printing agent.
In addition, an image processing apparatus comprises image reading means for reading an image by a detachable reading unit, and image printing means for printing out the transferred image read by the image reading means onto a printing medium, the image reading means having printing agent detecting means for detecting information relating to printing agent used in the image printing means, and control means for controlling image transfer to the image printing means in accordance with the information relating to printing agent detected by the printing agent detecting means.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a detachable image capturing device having a new function.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus, which is capable of communicating with and is detachable from an external apparatus having an image processing function, comprising: image capturing means for capturing an image object and generating image data; encoding means for encoding the image data in order to reduce the amount of the image data; and transmitting means for transmitting the encoded image data to the external apparatus. Also, there is provided a image processing apparatus, which is capable of communicating with and is detachable from an external apparatus having an image printing function, comprising: image capturing means for capturing an image object and generating image data; receiving means for receiving the status of the image printing function from the external apparatus; and transmitting means for transmitting the image data based on the status from the external apparatus.